Credit: Amazon.com
Creator:
David Simon
Cast:
Dominic West ………. Officer Jimmy McNulty
Lance Reddick ………. Mayor Cedric Daniels
Wood Harris ………. Avon Barksdale
Idris Elba ………. Stringer Bell
Sonja Sohn ………. Shakima “Kima” Greggs
Michael K. Williams ………. Omar Little
Clarke Peters ………. Lester Freamon
Amy Ryan ………. Beatrice “Beadie” Russell
Jim True-Frost ………. Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski
Wendell Pierce ………. William “Bunk” Moreland
Domenick Lombardozzi ………. Thomas “Herc” Hauk
Seth Gilliam ………. Ellis Carver
John Doman ………. William A. Rawls
Frankie R. Faison ………. Ervin Burrell
Robert Wisdom ………. Howard “Bunny” Colvin
Aidan Gillen ………. Thomas “Tommy” Carcetti
J.D. Williams ………. Preston “Bodie” Brodus
Andre Royo ………. Bubbles
Deirdre Lovejoy ………. Rhonda Pearlman
The Show
I never got a chance to see this show before I reviewed this Season Three DVD set. I don’t have HBO and I knew little about the show. Like any show on HBO or SHOWTIME that I watch, I decided to give this show a chance based on what other people were saying about the show. Many people have called ‘The Wire’ the best show on television, so I had to see what everyone was talking about.
For those you don’t know, like me not too long ago, ‘The Wire’ takes place in Baltimore, MD. It’s all about drug dealers and cops, junkies and politicians. It sounds like a typical “cop drama”. A group of cops are assembled to take down a drug operation in Baltimore’s west side. This drug operation is run by the Barksdale family, headed by Avon Barksdale. The Barksdales, of course, have to go against the police and rival gangs. The “good” cops have to deal with other dirty cops and corrupt politicians as well.
Sounds like just another “cop drama”..right? I mean..we’ve seen million of these shows on TV in the past 5 or 6 years. Cop shows are all the rage right now. They have been for awhile now. You have various ‘C.S.I.’ and ‘Law & Order’ shows. You have ‘The Shield’. You used to have ‘NYPD Blue’. I could go on and on. However, ‘The Wire’ is not like these other shows. In a typical crime show, you usually only get one side of the story. You usually just take a look at the cops and what they see. They are the “good” guys and the criminals, including drug dealers, are the “bad” guys. Simple enough, and most of the time it works. People watch these shows in large numbers. But these shows can get boring and unoriginal in a hurry. That’s why many consider ‘The Wire’ to be the best cop show EVER! It’s unique.
Now you are probably asking me how this show is unique? And I’m going to tell you..that’s my job right? ‘The Wire’ presents both sides of the drug world. Actually, it presents many sides of the drug world. But it takes both the two direct opposite sides, the cops and the drug dealers, and puts you in each of their worlds. This show doesn’t make the cops the “good” guys and the dealers the “bad” guys. You can actually say that there are both “good” and “bad” cops along with “good” and “bad” drug dealers. This show never tells which side is right or wrong. It stays neutral with its storytelling and gets in-depth with every character on the show..no matter which side of the law they are on. You never see the criminals being presenting like this on other cop shows. But they get equal time on ‘The Wire’.
While the second season of ‘The Wire’ was more focused on the docks of Baltimore, the third season returned the show to the streets of Balitmore. At the beginning of the season, political reform destroys the Franklin Terrace public housing towers that were home to the Barksdale organization. This pushes the dealers back on the streets and the war continues. Season three examined the concept and nature of reform and the role of the political leadership in addressing a city’s problems. As a result, there was a running subplot throughout this season that involved the effects of legalizing the drug trade within the limited boundaries of three uninhabited city blocks, often referred to as “Hamsterdam”. It was a “free” zone for dealers to legally sell drugs. In addition, Avon gets released from prison near the start of this season. His organization now has to deal with a new rival organization run by a young man named Marlo Stanfield. The drug war is getting really bloody in a hurry and to make matters worse for the police, the wiretaps aren’t working anymore. They used to “wire” dealers’ phones to hear their conversations. The dealers soon figured this out and found a way to get around these wiretaps. That’s about all I can tell you about season three. I don’t want to give away too much, especially the end of the season. That’s some great storytelling right there.
The one problem with ‘The Wire’, and most likely the reason why it doesn’t do so well in the ratings, is that the show is complicated. But that’s one of the reasons why it’s so popular with its fans. The pace of the show is slow. Stories and characters take time to develop. In fact, things that started in season one are still getting developed in season three. This is a complex show. For someone like me, whose first taste of this show is the third season, you can get lost really easily. You don’t know who any of the characters are and what they are all about. Since most of the actors on the show are mostly unknowns as well, it’s hard to tell who is who at first. Once you figure it out, though, you can start to enjoy the show. That’s probably why you really should watch ‘The Wire’ from the beginning. However, I highly enjoyed some of the new characters introduced in the third season like Marlo Stanfield and Dennis “Cutty” Wise, an ex-con released alongside Avon who struggles to adapt to life as a free man.
Creator, David Simon, attempted to make this show as real as possible. He didn’t want to glorify police work nor did he want to vilify drug dealing. I think he accomplished that..almost flawlessly. You can also learn from this show as well. The show is about drug dealing in a fictional Baltimore, but there are parallels to today’s issues like the “War in Iraq” and the national drug prohibition, which has become a war against America’s lower class according to Simon.
This isn’t a show that you can watch, while doing something else. This show demands your attention. You can’t just watch one episode every now and then. You can get lost really quickly, if you do that. But if you give this show a chance and give it your full attention, it should suck you right in and leave you wanting more.
Episodes:
Disc One:
Episode 1 – Time After Time
A wave of urban reform brings down the notorious Franklin Terrace public housing towers, forcing the Barksdale drug crew to find a new home.
Episode 2 – All Due Respect
Under orders from Stringer Bell, Bodie faces a critical test against a fierce young dealer with lucrative corners near the now-toppled Franklin Terrace towers.
Disc Two:
Episode 3 – Dead Soldiers
Omar and crew get more than they bargained for during a stick-up of a Barksdale stash house; Colvin hatches a secretive crime-reduction plan.
Episode 4 – Amsterdam
West Baltimore residents get some surprising straight talk at a community meeting from Major Colvin; Carcetti reveals his political ambitions.
Disc Three:
Episode 5 – Straight And True
Frustrated in his grass-roots reform efforts, Colvin arms himself with intelligence; McNulty sees Stringer Bell is now unreachable as a drug target.
Episode 6 – Homecoming
Stringer Bell gets an education in construction management, and a frustrated Colvin unleashes the troops on the corner boys ignoring his new edict.
Episode 7 – Back Burners
Daniels is distressed over the reason the detail was reassigned from Pimlico; Marlo dispatches a drive-by on a Barksdale corner from the calm of his pigeon coop.
Disc Four:
Episode 8 – Moral Midgetry
Brianna and McNulty sit down for a heart-to-heart, while Avon dispatches the troops to track Omar and wrestles with a revelation by Stringer.
Episode 9 – Slapstick
A Barksdale crew violates the long-standing but unspoken Sunday morning truce, increasing discontent among the co-op.
Episode 10 – Reformation
Brother Mouzone returns to Baltimore on a mission of revenge and casts a wide net in his search for Omar, who has his own plan for vengeance.
Disc Five:
Episode 11 – Middle Ground
The wire begins to yield information about the Barksdale organization, though finding links to the top proves elusive.
Episode 12 – Mission Accomplished
Avon readies his troops for war against Marlo; as Cutty struggles to keep his young boxers off the corners, he and Fruit cross paths once again.
Score: 9/10
The Video:
The video is given in fullscreen color with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Transfer is decent with minimal distortion. Some may be disappointed that it’s not in widescreen format, but the quality here is great for a TV show.
The Audio:
The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound, English Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound, and SPanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound. There is an option for English, Spanish, and French subtitles as well. No problems here either. Dialogue is easily heard and the music fits the show.
The Extras:
Audio Commentaries –
There are five of these featuring various members of the crew of the show. David Simon (creator) and Nina K. Noble (producer) comment on the “Time After Time” episode. Richard Price (writer) comment on the “All Due Respect” episode. David Simon comments again on the “Dead Soldiers” episode. George Pelecanos (writer) and Joe Chappelle (director) comment on the “Middle Ground” episode. And finally, David Simon and Karen L. Thorson (producer) comment on the “Mission Accomplished” episode. The only problem with these are the fact that none of the cast are involved in them. It’s just writers, producers, directors, and the creator. That being said, these are always interesting to check out.
Q & A at the Museum of Television & Radio –
Creator, David Simon, and various members of the creative team and cast got together as a panel at the Museum of Television & Radio to answer questions from the audience and members of the media. I thought this was very interesting. Some more behind-the-scenes stuff and different thoughts from different people involved in the show.
A Conversation with David Simon –
David Simon visited Eugene Lang College, the New School for Liberal Arts and sat in on a “class” discussion to talk about ‘The Wire’ and where the material came from for the show. Another interesting piece to watch. If you still have questions about how the show was created or anything really, this is another good place to go to find out.
Score: 8/10
| InsidePulse’s Ratings for The Wire – The Complete Third Season | |
